Editing notes: The reels were transferred by Helge Bernhardt using a Blackmagic Cintel Gen2. This eliminated most black dirt from the transfer, leaving mainly white emulsion scratches as "snow."

Phoenix digital dirt removal processes were then run on the first four minutes of Reel One ​by Helge Bernhardt, up to and including the opening credits. This was very effective and I hoped we would do more of this, but other projects got in the way.

The transfer, as expected, gets dirtier at the beginning and end of reels, and one or two minutes of footage was isolated around reel changes for further work, much of it done by hand in Photoshop by Garrett Gilchrist, including the removal of reel markers, splices, and heavy damage around the actual reel changes.

Reel One was considered the most problematic. We have scanned about four different prints of reel one, and all are dirty and missing some footage. While I was impressed by our "A-Print" Reel One scan, an alternate Reel One scan was also done by Helge, with thanks to someone who does not want to be credited.

While the previous scan was darker and bluer, this scan was brighter, more contrasty and more yellow, losing some highlight detail and clarity. It was also a much dirtier scan. FemBoyFilms handled Phoenix digital dirt removal processes on this version of Reel One, in full. 

The cleaned-up result was good, but since this scan is considered lower quality, it is only used briefly in this edit. It's used for the 20th Century Fox logo (with heavy cleanup by Garrett Gilchrist), briefly as Marcella shakes the snowglobe, and as Marcella closes the roof of her dollhouse. It is also used for color during the live action segments in the first two minutes of the film, for richer yellow and green tones.

Sound used here is from the prints as scanned. It is possible that previous scans of this film are superior in that regard, but that's a matter of taste and hard to pin down. (That would include the retail VHS, the KA scan, the PD Rag Doll Blu Ray/35mm leak ... I forget which we used on the 2007 DVD.)

Investigations into the copyright status of this film revealed that the necessary paperwork is now lost or unavailable. A large company like Disney, which owns FOX now, or Paramount, which owns CBS now, could probably paper over those gaps to release the film. Smaller companies we've spoken to couldn't figure it out. ITT, which produced the film, was heavily associated with the US government. It was something of a scandal at the time. So some have argued that the film could be considered in the public domain, saying it would at least partially belong to the people of the US, save the various licenses (Gruelle family and Joe Raposo).

I don't know whether I would personally take the risk and argue that, but that is certainly an argument that someone could make.

Production services with thanks to Tim Finn and Jonathan Baylis.